This invention relates generally to joining of small structures, and, more specifically, to making electrical contacts to nanostructures.
The conventional method used to contact nanostructures electrically is electron beam lithography. While having good resolution, the procedure is complex, expensive, and time-consuming. Moreover, the polymer resists and solvents used in the process leave residues that often contaminate the sample or device. As a result, the major contribution to the device resistance is not from the sample itself, but from the contact. While lithography-free contacting techniques have been developed, such as with the use of shadow masks, they have their drawbacks. It would be useful to have a method to contact nanostructures electrically that is simple, robust, inexpensive, suitable for large-scale manufacturing, and that does not introduce contamination.